Dog Brothers Martial Arts has as its mission to help its people "Walk as a Warrior for all their days". In this system, a warrior is one for the length of his Life and each day is not only a celebration of the present, it is also a building block for the future.

In the Art of this, there are three basic stages: the Young Man, the Family Man, and...well let's call it the Free Man. Be clear that the system is very specifically for ALL: The Practitioner who stands ready without fail to step forward to Protect without notice is the greatest Warrior of all,whereas the Fighter may be but a young man on the path towards thisfurther level. To be able to step forward without notice without fail for the length of one's life in the real world requires thought as to the substance, order and organization of one's training over time. DBMA is this.

In no order and leaving out for now their specific elaboration, the basic fighting areas of the system are:

1) Unarmed: "Kali Tudo"(tm) for 'The Cage' as well as 'The Street.'2) Knife: Offense and defense3) Stick: For street as well as Real Contact Stick Fighting.4) Double stick: For street as well as RCSF5) Staff/ Dos Manos: For street as well as RCSF

Note that there are "non-fighting" areas of the system as well.

The fighting of the system is tested principally in "Real Contact Stickfighting" at a "Dog Brothers' Gathering of the Pack". This fighting, which takes place in the Ritual Space, must then be understood in terms of the requirements of the Real World. For example, one of the reasons the double stick is cultivated in the ritual space is for its development ofbilateralism-the ability to move in any direction with either side forward and to fluidly shift between the two-a skill needed for the realities of a multiple player world. Another example is that staff is emphasized so that one may improvise with all items in the environment requiring two hands.

This point is an important one in understanding the system: The skills that we choose to develop and test in the ritual space are chosen with the real world in mind. Furthermore, the extraordinary array of skills that can be brought to, tested and seasoned at a DB Gathering make it an ideallaboratory for cultivating not only these skills but the teaching and training methodology of the system itself as well.

The DBMA path is about more than fighting skill in a larger context. In no particular order, there are:

1) Hurting, Healing, Harmonizing.

2) Fit, Fun, and Functional.

3) Mind, Heart, and Balls

4) Territory, Hierarchy, Reproduction

5) Contact and Consciousness, Dichotomy and Transformation

Q: Who should come to the Practitioner & Instructor Candidate Camp?

A: Practitioners and those interested in becoming instructors in our system. In contrast to the summer camp, there will be much greater emphasis on the inner logic of the system and how to teach the material.

A "practitioner" should have the basic skills in place, be able to pick up new movements, and most importantly, know how to be a good training partner. If you are "into it" enough to think about coming, your skills are probably up to it.

We understand that many good, humble people worry that by the very fact of expressing an interest in certification that they are presenting themselves as ready to be certified. Not to worry! As long you entertain no sense of expectation or right of certification that by attending you will be certified, you are welcome. If your feeling is simply that you wish to learn and grow in the system, you and we will be happy.

Concerning certification: There are two basic philosophies tocertification. In one, certification is very business-like. One pays the money, undergoes the training, shows the knowledge and skills, gets the certificate, and goes out into the world. This is good and there is nothing wrong with it.

This is not what we do.

In the other approach, certification is simply a part of a larger relationship in which there is a genuine sense of friendship, loyalty, and continuing responsibility in both directions. The money simply enables all this to take place. This is the approach we follow.

Q: Tell me more please about the specific levels in the certification program.

A: My teacher, Dan Inosanto, who is qualified as few people are to use big titles, uses nothing more than "Guro". I, who am far less worthy than him, think this is a good example. Thus the levels in the system are very simple:

Members of the Dog Brother tribe gets their titles in Tagolog, everyone else gets theirs in English. We are proud of our good name and what it represents, thus all certifications are revocable at any time.

Within each level there is first year, second year, etc. Standards are high. This is not a paper mill! So far I have made only two people "Guro"-Benjamin "Lonely Dog" Rittiner of Switzerland and Guro Chris "True Dog" Clifton of Palm Springs, CA. Please note that Guro Lonely was able to achieve this by making use of Personal Training Programs,seminars, Videos, the DBMA Association and its Vid-lessons, so please do not allow your dreams to be hindered by the fact that we may live it different places.

"Group Leader" is just that, someone who leads a training group.

"Trainer" is a title that allows us to give someone achance to get started, see what they can do as an instructor, and get to know them a bit without putting our credibility at risk too much.

Q: What will we do at the Camp?

A: Guro Crafty will do the bulk of the teaching. Top Dog will be there at some point. In addition to what arises spontaneously, our plan is to cover the following:

1) Review: The Seven Ranges theory, "the triangle from the third dimension", the footwork matrix and their role in the logic of the system.

2) Review:The Snaggletooth Drill:

3) "Los Triques Siniwali": A substantial block of the weekend will be dedicated to the new block of material we call "Los Triques Siniwali". I confess to being rather tickled with myself about LT. "Los Triques" stands for "The Three Ks" of Kali and Krabi Krabong. It is our blend of the two. Not only is it of ruthless efficiency in fighting, it is ideal for developing skills that are important in many areas of the system such as footwork, combining striking with the footwork, tactics & strategy, bilateralism, unarmed fighting and more.

4) "DBMA Kali Tudo": Many of us for years have heard that empty hand is just like the weapons-- yet when it comes for unarmed fighting, this does not seem to manifest. "DBMA Kali Tudo" is about manifesting Kali-Silat skills in the context of Vale Tudo fighting.